Frosty Westering, former Parsons coach, dies at 85

Apr 16, 2013

Frosty Westering

TACOMA, Wash. — Legendary former Fairfield High School and Parsons College football coach Frosty Westering died Friday at 85.

Westering, who is one of two former Parsons coaches to be inducted into the College Football Coaches Hall of Fame, went on to win four national titles with Pacific Lutheran University and was among a select group of coaches to win more than 300 college football games.

Westering coached Parsons in a two-year span from 1962-1963. He led the Wildcats to an undefeated 9-0 mark in his first season in 1962, then captained them to a 5-4 record in his second and final season. He led the Fairfield High School football program to a 21-13-2 record from 1956-60.

Westering then coached Albert Lea, a Parsons’ satellite school based out of Albert Lea, Minn., for six seasons from 1966-1971 prior to his highly successful stint at Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma, Wash. In 32 seasons at PLU, Westering won four titles and finished as a national runner-up four other times. He won more than 78 percent of his games at the private school, going 261-70-5.

Westering retired in 2003 with 305 total victories and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005. He led the Lutes to NAIA national titles in 1980, 1987 and 1993, then in the school’s second year after making the jump to Division III, led PLU to the 1999 national title. The Lutes became the first team to win five road games to win the title.

He never had a losing record in any of his 32 seasons and had 19 total playoff appearances. Three times he was a national coach of the year.

But that was just one part of Westering. He was a professor and successful author, transferring his beliefs about coaching into life skills. Westering wrote two books — “Make The Big Time Where You Are” and “The Strange Secret of the Big Time: What Makes Life Great” — and regularly spoke to groups of all ages. Westering also started a mentorship program among PLU football players with local elementary students where they spend about 2,000 hours annually at schools working with kids.

Westering is survived by his wife Donna, five children and 13 grandchildren.